DenmarkMovia, the country’s largest public transport agency, has operations which reach a population of more than 2·4 million in Denmark’s capital region, including Greater Copenhagen and Sealand. Responsible for buses and inter-urban commuter trains, Movia also manages Copenhagen’s marina ferry service (all of which are operated by subcontractors) and two ferries. Efficient radio communications between all subcontractors providing bus, train and ferry services is essential for the smooth operation of Movia’s transport network, and a Motorola TETRA solution, including Dimetra IP infrastructure and 1200 mobiles, was deployed some years ago. It includes Vehicle Integrated Units for deployment on vehicles and ferries. Together the solution provides voice and data capabilities and an emergency button on the radio enabling contact with, and request for, police, fire or ambulance assistance. This TETRA network, operated by the Danish communications service provider Dansk Beredskabskommunikation, is now part of the national SINE (SIkkerhedsNEttet) network – the mission-critical public safety system for emergency services, which is owned, operated and managed by Motorola to provide coverage across all of Denmark’s regions. Terminals used on the network include equipment from EADS, Motorola and Sepura. GermanyIn 2010, Alpha Ventus, the first offshore wind farm in Germany, was commissioned. Located some 45?km north of Borkum Island in the North Sea, its 12 turbines together generate 60 megawatts, capable of powering 50?000 households. A TETRA system supplied to the operating consortium by 3T Communications links the turbines SwedenUsing the national Rakel public safety communications network and TETRA terminals by Sepura, the Swedish Coastguard patrols thousands of square kilometres of sea, monitoring Sweden’s fishing grounds for illegal trawling, providing early warning and clean-up of oil spills, and patrolling a large section of the European Union’s outer border. Carrying out these tasks are its 600 officers and a range of large sea-going vessels, smaller inshore boats, hovercraft, aeroplanes and land-based vehicles. For use in areas of little or no radio network coverage, Sepura has supplied mobile gateways which can act as a high-power mobile base station. Crews can keep in touch by communicating between handsets in Direct Mode Operation (DMO) as well as the normal Trunked Mode Operation. Sepura has also supplied gateways and radios for airborne use. More recently, in September 2011, the Swedish Lifeboat Institute (Sjöräddningssällskapet) joined the nationwide network, adopting a range of Sepura terminals to support its maritime rescue operations in Sweden’s coastal waters. The Sjöräddningssällskapet moved to TETRA to ensure effective communications with the other public safety organizations in Sweden which use the Rakel network. British IslesIn preparation for the offshore events of the 2012 Olympic Games, the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) will use TETRA terminals at both the London and Weymouth venues, said a spokesman for the agency, Fred Caygill. These will facilitate an effective multi-agency response, should the need arise. Up to now, he went on, the agency had used TETRA only in a limited way and to cover a specific area – to enable more effective communication between the Metropolitan Police and the London Coastguard on the lower reaches of the River Thames. This collaboration was established after a disaster in 1989, when a Thames pleasureboat sank as a result of a collision, with the loss of 51 lives. Waters off the coastal county of Dorset will play host to all the sailing events for the Olympics, and network provider Airwave Solutions recently completed there its first ever land-to-sea testing of TETRA. Airwave, which operates the national TETRA network for the UK’s emergency services and public safety organizations, has built a dedicated private mobile radio (PMR) network to support the 2012 Games. Named Apollo, the network has been purpose-built to provide secure mobile radio communications to all London 2012 competition venues, from the Olympic Park itself to sites across the country, including the sailing venues at Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour. It will provide voice communications for more than 18 000 officials and volunteers during the games, including those involved in the sailing events. Further south, Motorola Solutions announced in May that it had provided new, interoperable Motorola TETRA systems for police and emergency services in the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, allowing the islands’ forces to collaborate more effectively in public safety provision and emergency situations. Expanded network coverage allows improved tracking of seagoing vessels and craft. In addition, Jersey’s Motorola MTM5400 mobiles will have a gateway repeater capability, enabling users to temporarily extend the coverage area of the TETRA network through their individual handsets.
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